HC Deb 24 March 1980 vol 981 cc421-2W
Mr. Skeet

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he has invited the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to give its advice on the Westinghouse and Kraft Werke Union version of the pressurised water reactor and its opinion over choice.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has already reviewed the generic safety issues of the pressurised water reactor (PWR) and has said that there is no fundamental reason for regarding safety as an obstacle to the selection of the PWR concept for use as a source of electrical power in the United Kingdom. It is now the responsibility of the Central Electricity Generating Board to submit a safety case for a specific PWR design for evaluation by the NII. No PWR will be built in the United Kingdom unless it has been licensed by the HSE.